This exploratory study uses qualitative and quantitative data to analyze instructor experiences in adding video feedback to written notes in online courses. This study asks if instructors will feel more "connected" in video feedback courses, report increased workloads, and see an improvement in their performance evaluations in video…

The private return to postsecondary investment varies widely by field, but the resources required by different fields are not well known. This paper establishes five new facts about college costs using novel department-level data. First, costs vary widely across field, ranging from electrical engineering (109 percent higher costs than English) to…

We report the results of a pilot study that offers the field of technical and professional communication its first look at material working conditions of contingent faculty, such as course loads, compensation, and professional support. Findings include that contingent faculty are more enduring with stable full-time, multi-year contracts; they…

Throughout U.S. higher education, non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) are experiencing tremendous growth. Traditionally part-time instructors, increasing numbers of NTTF are full-time faculty but have lower salaries, fewer benefits, and less integration into their schools than tenure-track peers. Although this general trend is reflected in schools of…

Over the past 25 years, the Australian workforce has become more casualised, with approximately one-quarter of the workforce in casual employment today. One of the highest users of casual employees is the higher education sector, where casual academics (referred to as sessionals in the Australian context) are estimated to account for 50% of the…

Adjunct faculty make up a large contingent of faculty teaching in today's colleges and universities. In fact, the use of adjunct faculty allows these institutions to fulfill their educational missions. Much is written in the popular press and in periodicals dedicated to higher education about adjunct faculty. While some of this is accurate, a…

The purpose of this quantitative, multiple regression study was to examine the relationship between 10 adjunct instructor characteristics and organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Part-time instructors who taught for the institution during the 2012-2013 academic year completed an electronic survey with questions from three valid and…

Satisfaction with the quality of students, autonomy, faculty support, honorarium, and preference for teaching were significant predictors of adjunct faculty loyalty. With the exception of autonomy, these factors along with a heavy teaching load, collaborative research with full-time faculty, and satisfaction with teaching schedule were predictive…

Recession reduces job opportunities in the professoriate, particularly in areas where minorities are clustered. It's a tough time to want to be a professor or try to climb the faculty ranks, particularly for minority faculty, as Dr. Christopher Tudico, a Mexican-American, and others are finding. The recession and its go-slow recovery have cut the…

The 2006 report from Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings's Commission on the Future of Higher Education, "Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U. S. Higher Education", made recommendations that most parttime faculty cannot follow. The report "urge[s] postsecondary institutions to make a commitment to embrace new pedagogies, curricula,…

Variation in teaching techniques was examined among instructors based on their status (full-time vs. part-time) and educational level (doctorate vs. nondoctorate). To facilitate this study, a survey instrument was developed and distributed to 400 randomly selected faculty members employed at the two largest institutions, Community Colleges X and…

Explores differences between instructional practices of full- and part-time faculty using results of a survey of more than 1,500 community college instructors. Reports that discrepancies emerged regarding time spent in various classroom practices, availability of faculty to students outside class, and faculty connections with colleagues and the…

In compliance with Public Law 2002, Chapter 27, the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education collects and summarizes data regarding part-time instructional staff at the state's public colleges and universities. This study found that the average course load and compensation of adjunct faculty in each semester differed both within and among the…

Describes a study conducted in response to the aging of community college instructors and the need to replace large numbers of retiring faculty. Explains the study's recruitment simulation, which used graduate students in MBA programs in the Midwest. States that, when asked if they would prefer to teach part-time or full-time, respondents…

In 1981 a questionnaire was mailed to personnel at 42 Kentucky colleges and universities to determine the number of faculty members teaching technical writing, the academic qualifications and professional experiences of these individuals, and the methods they used to teach technical writing. Of the 29 responding, 20 (68.9%) institutions offered…